History of Chinese Garden Culture -- Special Topic History Series

Author: Wang Yi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: This book begins by outlining the development of Chinese classical gardens—ancient gardens, Western Zhou gardens, Qin and Han gardens, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties gardens, Sui and early Tang gardens, mid-Tang and two Song gardens, and Ming and Qing gardens. It then examines Chinese classical gardens from multiple perspectives, such as the cosmology of "heaven and earth" and the four realms of ancient gardens, the role of classical gardens in refining the character of scholars-officials, the mindset of scholars-officials and the "freehand" techniques of classical gardens, and the principle of "harmony" in classical aesthetics and the landscape art of classical gardens. The author emphasizes the main idea that every evolution of Chinese classical gardens was strictly constrained by the fundamental characteristics of the contemporary social structure and the entire socio-cultural system, including garden art. Ancient Chinese culture, which encompasses garden art, is a complete system.